The warning which warns of hail up to 2 inches in diameter, high winds with gusts as high as 80 m.p.h., frequent lightning and heavy rain that could lead to localized flooding, is in effect until 10 p.m., according to the agency website. In one statement on the website, the agency said of the approaching weather: "These are very dangerous storms."

Metra trains traveling between Aurora and Chicago were temporarily stopped due to adverse weather conditions, according to Metra officials.

CTA officials had also reported significant delays on all "L" lines. For CTA information go here.

A CTA spokeswoman said trees fell onto the tracks on the Brown Line near the Rockwell Avenue station causing trains to be suspended between the Kimball Avenue and Western Avenue stops in both directions. The trees were remobed by 7:30 p.m.

In addition, southbound Purple Line service was delayed when trees fell on tracks near the Morse Avenue station. North bound service was not affected. No injuries have been reported in any CTA incident, officials said.

There were numerous reports of felled tree branches in several communities, including Elgin and Bolingbrook. Numerous trees and power lines were down and power outages were reported in Tinley Park, said Pat Carr the village's emergency management agency director.

As of 10 p.m., ComEd said, 144,000 customers were without power, most of them south of Chicago. About 300,000 outages overall had been reported Monday during and following the storm.

The storm system, moving at about 60 m.p.h., has left a bunch of severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado warnings in its wake and is expected to hit north central Illinois between 5 and 6 p.m. Winds as high as 70 m.p.h. were clocked in Davenport, Iowa, according to ChicagoWeatherCenter.com, and there were measured rainfalls of more than 3 inches as well as some reports of tornado sightings.

Humid, stormy weather is expected into the middle of the week, with highs in the uppers 80s to lower 90s. Temperatures should drop to 80 under sunny skies by Friday.